‘Reducing time to markets by removing logistics bottlenecks’: Commerce Minister at AEPC Awards

The Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) held its 22nd AEPC Export Awards for 2016-17, on December 18 at Hotel Le Meridien, New Delhi. The awards recognized the top achievers of the Apparel Industry across a wide range of KPI’s and rewarded the best performers in total 18 categories.

The Union Minister for Textiles and Information & Broadcasting, Ms Smriti Irani presenting the 22nd AEPC Export Awards 2016-17, at a function, in New Delhi on December 18, 2017.The Minister of State for Textiles, Mr Ajay Tamta and Mr Ashok Rajani, Chairman, AEPC are also seen.

Present at the award ceremony were Mr Suresh Prabhu, Minister of Commerce and Industry; Ms Smriti Irani, Union Minister of Textiles and Information & Broadcasting; Mr Ajay Tamta, Minister of State for Textiles; Mr Amitabh Kant, CEO, Niti Aaayog and Mr Ashok Rajani, Chairman AEPC along with the leading garment exporters of the country, AEPC officials and other dignitaries.

The AEPC Export Awards are the most prestigious awards of Indian Apparel Industry, to recognise the success and innovative approaches of Indian apparel export companies. Extending across diverse product categories and including both experienced and start up representation, the awards are a celebration of the contributions exporters have made to the industry and, in turn, the national economy. This year, AEPC recognised the achievers from the apparel Industry in total eighteen categories and for the first time, AEPC Export Awards included two new award categories viz. sustainability and good practices.

Speaking on the occasion Mr Suresh Prabhu said, “The Commerce Ministry is working on an end to end comprehensive strategy where we are looking to provide Industry, new markets through bilateral and multilateral dialogues. To support exports, a plan is underway for creating an umbrella organisation which can address the issues faced by the exporters. We are currently working on reducing the time to markets by removing the bottlenecks prevailing in the logistics.”

Ms Smriti Irani informed that the government was soon going to come out with policy for Jute and silk. The Textiles Ministry is also working on a policy for the development of skills of the employees engaged in the sector.

“Niti Aayog accords a great importance to the textile and apparel sector because the Industry plays a vital role in delivering economic development. The sector is one of the most promising sector. In the proposed India –EU FTA, India may compromise for wine and push for textiles. The import tariff on man-made fibre has been a strategically wrong policy. India needs a fibre neutral GST rates and zero tolerance between payment and refund of taxes,” added Mr Amitabh Kant.

Congratulating the award winners Mr Ashok Rajani said, “AEPC Export awards are the most prestigious awards in the Indian apparel Industry which amply demonstrates the excellence of Indian Apparel Industry. The Indian textile Industry has inherent linkage with agriculture and with the culture and traditions of the country.”

The Industry contributes to 10 per cent of manufacturing production, 2 per cent of India’s GDP and up to 13 per cent of the country’s export earnings. With over 45 million employed directly, it is one of the largest sources of employment generation in the country. “The Industry has been able to respond positively to the global challenges due to the incorporation of good practices in the manufacturing processes and the awards recognize the best performers of the apparel Industry,” Mr Rajani pointed out. During its interaction with the minister, the apparel Industry has asked the government to look at ways to fill the 5 per cent gap caused by the reduced rate of GST.